A data fusion engineer here won the 2013 Outstanding DoD Employee with a Disability Award.
Rose Dill, who works for the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division’s Integrated Systems Evaluation, Experimentation and Test Department, was praised for her “professionalism, dedication to duty and unselfish efforts.”
The 33rd annual award is given by the Office of Diversity Management and Equal Opportunity and supports DoD’s longstanding goal of two percent employment participation of individuals with targeted disabilities within the DoD civilian workforce.
As an E-2D Radar Tracking Team flight test engineer, Dill provided test expertise to the Mission Systems Test Team during execution of Radar, Identification, Friend or Foe, and Cooperative Engagement Capability (CEC) flight testing. Her efforts enabled efficient test point execution, resulting in timely completion of test objectives, and her efforts contributed to the first live CEC network with an underway ship, successful developmental test and confident entrance into operational testing.
Currently, she works on the Triton Test Team. As an adjunct to the P-8A, the MQ-4C Triton will provide combat information to operational and tactical users such as the Expeditionary Strike Group, Carrier Strike Group and the Joint Forces Maritime Component Commander.
NAVAIR has offered Dill many different opportunities to learn and be rewarded, including working with good mentors and leaders, she said.
“Before working at NAVAIR, I did not have any background in knowing what it takes to support the military. I had worked at a private health care company, and although I used my computer skills, the work I did was very specific,” she explained. “At NAVAIR, I have been fortunate to have had good mentors and leaders, and the training I received was very extensive. Most of these people were retired military personnel. Since they have the actual military background, I was able to learn so much more than I would have with just theoretical and textbook learning.”
As of September 2013, 2,864 individuals with disabilities work at NAVAIR, with 839 of them here at Patuxent River. The command also established an Individuals with Disabilities Advisory Team in 2006 to recruit and retain individuals with disabilities, eradicate hiring barriers, and increase morale, efficiency and effectiveness.
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